Campbell E-5 on trial in fatal Ky. car crash - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Campbell E-5 on trial in fatal Ky. car crash

COVINGTON, Ky. — The question for jurors to decide is who was driving the car that wrecked and killed James Fry, 25, of Walton in September 2009.

Kenton Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Leanne Beck said it was Army Sgt. Riley Ealy, on leave from Iraq at the time of the crash.

Ealy’s defense attorney, Nick Summe, said the evidence will show Fry, the car’s owner, was the driver.

Both the prosecutor and defense lawyer told a Kenton County jury during their opening statements Tuesday that the trial was about the facts. An underlying theme, however, appeared to be whether jurors will convict an Army sergeant who was awarded a Purple Heart after being injured during one of two tours of duty in Iraq.

While not implicitly addressing that issue, Beck told jurors, “We are not here to prove this defendant is a bad person. That is not what this case is going to be about.”

Yet, defense lawyer Nick Summe used a portion of his opening statement to review his client’s military career. Ealy is an engineering combat specialist who sweeps for improvised explosive devices.

Summe then got Ealy, in uniform, to stand in front of the jurors. Summe said Ealy is married and a father of four children in addition to one step child. Summe said the 27-year-old is married and a father of four children in addition to one stepchild.

“It is true Sgt. Ealy took responsibility for that night,” Summe said, but added that his client lied about being behind the wheel so the actual person driving wouldn’t be charged with operating a motor vehicle while impaired.

Summe said Ealy, who walked away from the wreck, didn’t know James Fry was going to die from injuries sustained when he was thrown from the car.

Ealy is charged with second-degree manslaughter, first-degree wanton endangerment and drunken driving. He was confined to Fort Campbell while awaiting trial.

Beck told jurors that she will present evidence that Ealy and his brother, Marshall Ealy, set out to drink on Sept. 2, 2009. Marshall Ealy’s wife, Lisa, dropped off the brothers at a Fort Mitchell bar. The plan was for her to pick up both men at the end of the night.

Instead of calling Lisa for a ride, Beck said the brothers met Fry and traveled to another bar.

At about 2:20 a.m., Beck alleges Riley Ealy decided to use Fry’s 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt to drive the trio back to his brother’s home in Crescent Springs.

The car wrecked at the intersection of Bromley Crescent Springs Road and Amsterdam Road. It was about three houses away from Marshall Ealy’s home.

Beck said Erlanger police Lt. Kevin Gilpin, an accident reconstructionist, will testify that the car was going at least 60 mph in a 35 mph zone when it struck a tree. Fry was thrown from the car, Beck said. His body landed in a neighbor’s driveway. He had no pulse by the time he was taken to an Air Care helicopter.

Beck said Riley Ealy’s blood-alcohol level was 0.18, more than twice the legal limit.

The prosecution will call at least four police officers and two medical personnel that will testify that Ealy said he was driving, Beck said. The prosecution will also play a recorded police interview in which Ealy admits to driving the car.

“What the commonwealth will prove, what the evidence will show, is that ... the defendant made the fatal decision to get behind the wheel of James Fry’s car while drunk and now James is dead,” Beck said at the conclusion of her opening statement.